>> next, officials from the u.s. forest service and interior department testify about wildfire response efforts. the senate energy and natural resources committee is chaired by lisa murkowski of alaska.

>> warmer and drier than average conditions are anticipated and the southwest in particular is at very high wildfires due to elevated drought conditions and strong winds. i feel like a weather reporter here. the tinder fire sparks on april 27 in central years marked the first large scale wildfire of

the season in the west. several now significant active fires including colorado and new mexico forcing evacuations. already this year almost 24,000 wildfires have burned about 12.7 million acres across the country. the number of fires that burned depends not only on conditions but on the timing of lightning strikes and human caused ignitions. nationwide people are responsible for starting 84% of the wildfireswildfires and by starting so several significant many by human carelessness people are lengthening the fire season into the early spring and later fall, at times of the air when lightning does not have a major role.

the eagle creek trail creek fire that raged through the columbia river gorge in oregon in 2017 started by a teenager that was messing around with firecrackers, one of many examples. with the 2018 fire season upon us i start with a plea to people everywhere -- please be smart about fire. we can make a difference in what this wildfire season ends up looking like and it starts with being careful. it is time to execute a multipronged federal state local strategy to meet increasing challenges being presented in a cost-efficient manner. versus innovation. our committee discusses innovation on the energy side of the policy shop but we have significant opportunities with respect to land and wildfire management. last fall, we held a hearing on wildfire technology. i am particularly interested in the use of unmanned aircraft systems or drones playing a greater role in wildfire management response from detecting, mapping and even helping to contain wildfires. it is far cheaper to operate, maintain and trained personnel on drones and also helps reduce risks for pilots, crew and firefighters. the state of alaska has been early adopters in the use of

drones. interior is using drones across management functions including to monitor ongoing volcanic eruptions in a white. we can and should do -- in hawaii. we can end should do more. -- we can and should do more. hopefully this will be an area we will be able to make bipartisan progress. after that we need to look to pportunities to increase efficiency and wildfire operations at the federal level. they have long coordinated through the national interagency fire center by collaboration and a could still improve procurement, budget information technology and human capital. one program to focus on is aviation services. still do not understand why forest service and interior

forest service and interior have their separate programs. efficiency and wildfire i have also said over and over hat wildfire is not just a budget problem. it is a management problem. meaning, we must actively manage our forests. in alaska we have seen the benefits of up to investments and hazarded areas before fires start. in 2015, a large strategically placed he will break the between the refuge save homes and lives during the massive fire. in 2015, hazardous fuel reduction treatments conducted years earlier around sterling, reduced the wildfire risk to the community during another fire. in the omnibus, congress provided funding to address ildfires, we also provided new authorities, not necessarily at the level i believe necessary but what we could characterize

authorities, not necessarily at as a start. the agencies wanted those authorities so we expect them to put them to good use. no excuses there. i will end, to effectively fight fires and manage lands, you must read your agencies of sexual harassment, bullying and as a start. he agencies wanted those retaliation. workplace misconduct cannot be tolerated, especially on the fire lines in the field. focus on the mission and be professional about it. or be ready to face consequences. with that, i would like to welcome the interim chief of the forest service, vicki christiansen and the director of wild and fire at department of interior, jeff rupert. i look forward to our discussion as we work to reduce wildfires across the country. sen. cantwell:? >> thank you madam chair. thank you for that strong statement, i agree with you on the issue of sexual harassment and what the agency needs to do

to better manage and train people in responding to these issues. i appreciate your strong statement about drones. as we approach this fire season, making sure those on the fire line have the best possible information is going retaliation. to be critical. weather conditions, info about fire movement, all of that, recently, i recently attended a breakfast where the secretary of act was entering into a mou. the department of interior has done remarkable work on our drone system. i do not want the department of act two waste one minute re-creating something that could be the same implementation that the department of interior has done. i hope that they will work on that. i also want to get started on

-- climate scientists have been telling us the fire season is getting longer and hotter and now this new forecast of the pacific northwest will have a july-august fire season on the side of what we have seen in the past being potentially worse. most of the west received less than 50% of average precipitation for may, which will likely result in the mountains becoming critically dry by late july. senator wyden and i were discussing this as it relates to what that means for us, anytime less precipitation, sooner, sooner, dryer environment in which we have to be mindful of.

nearly all the country experienced temperatures above average last month, central washington temperatures were 10 degrees above average. because conditions are supposed to last through september, places like southeast washington will likely experience more large fires in previous years, starting in july. areas in washington and i know we have a couple fires already started in our state, hopefully people will be working very quickly to put those out but it is just a very early reminder of how challenging the season could be. areas in washington, and oregon, my colleague will be here from idaho, and in idaho east of the cascade crest will likely experience more large fires than we have seen in the last year starting in august. given that we are looking at he summer, i want to make sure

we are ensuring firefighters have every tool available to them to help fight fires. they need to be as safe as possible, as efficient as possible. everyone here has heard me talk bout the carlton complex, fire in washington a few years ago where 140,000 acres burned in a single day. the following year the fires in washington were worse. we witnessed firsthand the disaster, the aftermath means for people living in these communities. our heroic men and women

firefighters did everything they could to be ready and we eed to do everything we can to be ready this season. fires are becoming more lethal. part of the speech that chief christiansen gave last week at the conference, one of the fact she mentioned struck me. since 1910, more than 1000 deaths in a while and fires but the more sobering number is more than a quarter of those, 255 have occurred in the last 15 years. they are literally becoming more lethal. when we get to questions, i will ask about our efforts on modernization. we want to make sure every tool is there, for wildland firefighters, with information.

we want to make sure our modernized fire shelters are developed and implemented in a way that we know the safety and training of those wildland firefighters, have an understanding of the developed and implemented in a equipment. we had a very unfortunate death, in the 30 mile fire, in which the then deployment of shelter, wasn't really successfully deployed, and the tragic loss of life in the pacific northwest. as you deploy new shelters and wildland firefighters with very few hours of training, compared to permanent firefighting forces, we want to make sure everyone is trained and adequate and also, not an over expectation of being someplace that they should not be.

e want to work with you on that. that. we also want to have more hasty response to wildfires. firefighters need to be able to use technologies that give them most efficient resources, we also want to be very strategic about protecting communities in the wildland interface as soon as possible. equipment. in march, congress took an important step by addressing the problem. members of this committee worked very hard on an omnibus bill dedicated to wildfire. many of the people in this room worked very hard on that. this helps the forest service have adequate resources to respond to fires and do their work. we provided significant funding for firefighting for the next 10 years, to get out of the fire borrowing. i hope there is enough funding

on the non-fire programs that can benefit communities as ell, especially the increase in funding that will help us do in funding that will help us do prevention and treatment in advance and prevent the loss, of the non-fire accounts of the forest service. what was included in that package that we think next things easier? state agencies like washington dnr are able to partner better with a four service and we hope you take advantage of that. they were called out last time -- with the forest service, dnr as called to the line and that is how bad the season was. we hope the good neighbor projects are implemented. we hope the vegetation management and power lines are implemented, the 20 year contracts to do thinning, and forcing on cross laminated timber will be limited and we hope the forest service will do management and power lines are everything it can to reduce fuels in advance. an interesting article in this month's journal of forest three, research shows acres burned on a wildfire in august puts more than five times as

much smoke as a controlled burn in may and june. i know this probably makes sense to people but at the same time, this is one of the dilemmas we have been fighting. i guarantee you, whether you ask people in puget sound, would you tolerate a little smoke in those months, to reduce the constant summer wide haze that has been present because of fire -- i guarantee you they would say yes, let's do the prescribed burning in the months, that help us control these burns in the most significant way. we have more work to do on that. that article showed us, this is the most wise spending we could do. we need to push through on this. i will be asking also, chief christiansen about the shift to contracts for 35% of the air tankers and water scoopers, including arrow flight in spokane, call when needed. i want to make sure you have every tool available. i want to make sure we're not going with one source of resource just because it is a larger pot of money. i would feel better sleeping at night if you have every tool

available. we know the water does not put out the fire, that the larger retardant does. with this many fire starts in this dry of a season and community so stretched and when the entire upper part of northwest washington and northeast washington was on fire, basically, communities were defending themselves. having that kind of air ability to help mitigate is so, so important to these communities. i understand, that, we will get to the air tankers, i have been long here. want to say that last year, ire managers requested but did not receive an air tanker 371 times because none were available. i get that your goal is to have the most resources. i want you to have the most resources. i do not want you to have to give up one for the other. let us work together on how we figure out how to get you both and what will continue to be a challenging season.

madam chair, we cannot work fast enough. the changing climate and environment is making fire more hallenging for the forest not receive an air tanker 371 times because none were available. service, wildland firefighters, communities. we put a down payment on but we need so much more. thank you for having this important hearing today. >> thank you, senator cantwell. we will turn to witnesses. mistresses and, -- this christiansen, welcome -- mrs. christiansen, we appreciate you being here, we ask you to keep comments to five minutes so we have opportunities for questions. service, wildland firefighters, we have two votes scheduled at 11 but we will power through so we can all ask questions. welcome. mrs. christiansen: madam chair, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me back to testify. i would like to touch on three topics, the wildfire outlook

and preparations to respond, progress to increase work to improve forest conditions and reduce fire risk, and an update on our actions to create a safe and respectful workplace. above average wildfire activity appears to be the new normal. forecasters predict 2018 well rival last year's historic season when the federal overnment spent $2.9 billion fighting fire. fighting fire. they predict above average significant fire potential in 11 western states at various times between now and the end of september, as senator cantwell displayed. firefighting is not solitary work. no one organization can do it alone. we rely on the cooperation and shared resources with states, tribes, federal agencies and ocal partners. with our collective resources, e maintain what we need to

effectively respond. forest service has 10,000 firefighters, 900 engines and hundreds of available aircraft. our firefighting efforts uppress 98% of all fires at 10 acres or less. we are also taking steps to better manage cost for fire response. e know there is no blank check. we will make decisions to ensure we spend dollars in the right place, that will make a check. difference. we are evaluating and reducing cost centers to ensure we are most effective and efficient with taxpayer dollars. in addition to wildfire response, our work is equally about improving forest

conditions and providing use an experience and service. with the help of congress, we equipped with new tools in the fire funding fix to help us get more done. it is our time to deliver and we are making steady progress. by june 8, all regions will submit two year plans that will demonstrate how they are going to employ the new authorities. they will include modified good eighbor agreements, use of new categorical exclusions for wildfire resilience, and optimal locations for 20 years stewardship contracts. stewardship contracts. we also look forward to submitting blueprints to reduce hazardous fuels in high risk area. e are already seeing increased results. we will sell 3.4 billion board feet of timber this year while

improving resiliency and health on more than 3 million acres. we have increased the number of acres we treated by 36%. timber harvest rose 13% from last year. and we are delivering it earlier in the year. at this point, we have harvested nearly 30% more timber than we did last year. our 2018 timber target is the highest it has been in two decades. we have strengthened cooperation with states and other partners to do more work. our increased work with states has resulted in 150 good neighbor agreements in 34 states. one agreement in utah resulted in 36 projects that will treat over 50,000 acres. meanwhile, we are fundamentally reforming our internal processes, and it is paying off. our streamlining, planning over the last eight months, decreasing the time to authorize projects.

this has reduced cost in just eight months by $30 million. we are updating technology to expedite timber sales, and hovel ready work has increased to build on momentum for conditions and providing use an to build on momentum for 2019. there is much more work to do. we are off to a productive start. start. finally, our mission success does depend highly on a skilled, motivated full-day session called, stand up for each other. employees will receive a new

ode of conduct and mandatory anti-harassment training with broad new policy. anti-harassment training with you have my personal commitment to do what ever it takes to bring about a permanent culture change in the forest service. this level of commitment goes for all work we do. we will ensure your investment makes a difference to americans ho deserve healthy, productive forests and a government that works for them. thank you madam chair, members of the committee, i am happy to answer questions. >> thank you. mr. ripper, welcome to the committee. >> good morning, chairman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss 2018 outlook in department of interior's fire management program. as we have heard, 2018 is shaping up to be a challenging year. the cumulative impacts of drought, invasive species and a steady accumulation of vegetation are creating landscapes more susceptible to large devastating costly wildfires.

so far this year we have seen large fires in the south, midwest, southwest. by all indication, we can expect the fire season in the west to be comparable to recent years, as the outbreak of major wildfires over the weekend in new mexico and colorado demonstrate. together with our partners we continue to mobilize department personnel, to deploy engines, single engine air tankers and other firefighting assets in support of a fully interoperable firefighting effort. as secretary zinke he and secretary perdue recently reaffirmed to all wildland fire eadership in both departments, the protection of firefighters and public safety is the top priority for every wildland the protection of firefighters fire activity and management decision. effective wildfire response is also built on trust. on teamwork.

on collaboration among firefighters and their partners. a workplace that is free from harassment, where all members of the firefighting community have a strong trust relationship with colleagues, s critical to achieving a safe and effective response. the department of interior's recently implemented comprehensive anti-harassment policy takes meaningful steps to address harassment by stepping up training and establishing a clearly defined complaint and resolution process so all employees, ncluding those on the fire line, can focus on the mission. to reduce the threat of wildfires, it is critical we take a more active approach to management of vegetation, on forests and rangeland. to all personnel, secretary

zinke exemplified the importance of management to reduce hazards. a cornerstone of this policy is the integration of vegetation management in all resource management planning, as a way to reduce fuels and improve forest health, protect people's lives and communities and prevent catastrophic wildfires. egetation management, either collaboratively with partners or done directly with euros on department managed land -- with bureaus on department managed land is the most effective way o reduce risk. coupled with technology, we are being helped to use drones, a perfect example of technology and leverage to fight wildfires in safer, more efficient ways. last year the department conducted more than 700 uaf issions and we are on track to surpass that this year.

the versatility of uaf is making a big difference in the way we are fighting wildfires. they provide real-time data and information, used to improve surveillance and reconnaissance, by assisting firefighters with detecting hotspots, improving mapping and increasing the effectiveness of monitoring. we are also exploring a number of new technologies including applications and alert systems improving firefighter safety in reconnaissance, by assisting collaboration with the department of defense. i would like to point out the department is widely using uaf's to support natural resource management and for search and rescue missions. for example, last week, the u.s. geological survey carried out a search and rescue mission in hawaii at mount kilauea. uaf spotted an individual cornered by a lava flow. the remote pilot using uaf's was able to safely navigate the out a search and rescue mission individual to a search crew that ultimately lead that person out of harms way we look forward to working collaboratively with partners throughout the community to continue to build on these and other efforts to support the

safety of firefighters and the public, and hands capabilities and strengthen relationships with our partners. thank you for the sustained support of this committee for the entire wildland fire community and thank you for the opportunity to discuss the program. i'm happy to answer questions. >> thank you, mr. rupert. thank you both. et me begin with the questions. i appreciate both of you have addressed the issue of workforce misconduct, harassment. what you are doing to bring about the very necessary changes to rid the agencies of sexual harassment, in all forms of workplace misconduct. mrs. christiansen, you mentioned you have a code of conduct that has been

introduced, mandatory training. mr. ruppert, you have indicated you have a new anti-harassment policy. you reference those, that this training includes those on the fire line. chief christiansen, is the outrage here for the training -- the outreach here for the training you referenced, does this also include those within the firefighting ranks, people within administrative offices? who are recovering? what is the -- who are we covering and what is the extent of these policies? mrs. christiansen: thank you, senator. it is for everyone of our permanent and seasonal employees. that is why we waited until the second week of june, the

majority of seasonals are on board now. we are shutting down business for one day, rolling each week in different units, one day, to focus on this training and the importance of breaking the silence and what it is really going to take to shift the culture sustainably. we are shutting down business we started with listen and learn sessions across the organization. that did not include as many of our seasonals. we needed to demonstrate as leaders what was really being felt in the workforce. that fueled the design for the stand up for each other, next week. 18 months ago we passed a very broad anti-harassment policy. we have been working on this agency specific training with real agency examples, real

employees. we have recorded our own training and there will be discussions in every workgroup across our organization. administrative staff, field staff, fire staff, headquarter staff and each work unit will dentify what they need to make commitments to each other to improve the work environment. we have started with enhanced reporting center, we opened that in the fall of 2017, so that the fear of retaliation -- we are trying to minimize the fear of retaliation. we want to hear if anyone has any concerns. >> what action then is taken if it is reported and this is a situation in the field -- you have an active fire on the way, people are working -- how do

you enforce this? it is nice to say we have a one-day training session and then you go out for the season but it is not like you are reporting to somebody in an office back here. this has been one of the very significant concerns, -- out in the field, it is a different environment, that there is more ccepted. mrs. christiansen: you are absolutely right. that is about getting what is under our culture. being very clear about what is not accepted, changing those behaviors and then there are structural things that will allow reporting in different ways. even for out in the field, if there is cell service, our 1-800 number will pick up, we have timelines, action must be

taken within 24 hours to look into an investigation and to evaluate the situation and to take corrective action. >> mr. ruppert, on doi side, do you have a similar process for recording and required action? mr. rupert: the policy recently put in place in doi sets very rigid expectations for managers and timelines to respond to omplaints. there is a tremendous focus on ensuring that process that really explores and understands and provides inquiry into investigation is rigid. expectations go along with it, the follow-through -- to the

point of in the field, especially in these areas, incidents where we have very diverse organizations contributing, as both of our departments have started to put in much more rigid expectations for how behaviors, inappropriate behavior will be treated with -- we aren't dissipating that will generate -- we are anticipating that will generate more interaction when these things occur and we have had dialogue at senior management level, not only etween interior and ag but also with partners across the entire community, states, local organizations, tribes, in those interagency settings, to also with partners across the ensure, you know, these incidents occurring, whether this occurs, where we have this real diverse community working

together that we do not lose track of those complaints and that we are following those back to the home organization to essentially ensure that eople are being held responsible for behavior. >> from oversight perspective, we will be back to you on this to make sure that this is more than a one-day training, that this really is about changing a culture that has been allowed to take over our agencies. it has been an extraordinarily lack mark. we need to correct that, you know that. we want to keep monitoring that. senator cantwell? >> chief grinches and and mr. rupert, we were all together at the department of ag to discuss this mou, with the forest know that. service and i saw that last

week the department of interior awarded four contracts to companies that operate vehicles for wildfire. 'm proud to say one of those was from southwest washington and northeast oregon, a company that spans the columbia and is on both sides, literally. we are so proud of that echnology, most importantly we are proud that interior is being aggressive about using this tool on wildland fires, that we want to make sure there is no barriers between forest service and interior working together to implement this. this is so critical for information about fire size, starts and safety and security about firefighters. is there anything holding us up from being very aggressive about this deployment during

this fire season? do you have to do anything else to make sure these tools are used across agencies or implemented? mrs. christiansen: thank you for that question. i am pleased to say, this is an example of, we are really coordinating together. the forest service is clearly looking to be early adopters in innovation doi has stepped out i am pleased to say, this is an on and we applaud that. instead of us spending the dollars and time to do innovation and testing they have done, we are absolutely committed, drafting on them, if i might say, with our policies, procedures to make sure that we have interoperability, so that we don't have policies and procedures that are different. the office of aviation services at doi has been extremely

helpful, in our policies and procedures. they have trained the trainer for our staff and we can access their call in needed contracts at any time as well as state's and others. we are not ashamed to say we applaud department of interior colleagues and we also see a very strong use of innovation, and safety aspects of using uas's and look forward to when they can have additional capacity beyond urveillance. > anything else? mr. rupert: thank you vicki. i would say the easy answer to the question is yes.

call when needed, u.s. contract is available to the forest service and is being administered as a national call when needed, u.s. contract asset the way we administer other assets. it is available across the community. >> i assure you, we will need hem. thank you. on call when needed, to the air tanker issue. i'm concerned we are shipping 35% of current contract to call thank you. when needed. we had a chance to talk about this before, to christiansen, about the fact that call when it needed contracts are more expensive per day, but to get them you will have to call them every day and say you are on call. expensive per day, but to get what i am trying to understand is how we are going to supplant that for the panoply of resources you could have. i'm trying to understand -- is this about going deep where the resource is from a budgeting perspective or you truly believe the call when needed as relates to services are the most cost-effective way for taxpayers?

mrs. christiansen: that is a eally good question. as i said earlier, we will monitor closely that balance between the upfront expenditures we use for exclusive use and how much we actually need them versus, yes, more expensive but we pay for them when we use them, call when needed. it is an art and science and the science part is informed looking backwards and we have to look forward. to be honest with you senator, we would like to rebalance in the coming years. we think we need to have a ittle bit more balance between

exclusive use and call when needed. we were in transition this year, quite frankly from getting the legacies, that exclusive use and call when contract is done and this is a transition year. >> i so appreciate you saying that. i want you to have every single tool you need. i want you to have air tankers. i know you had one acquired from the department of defense, not sure if you're going to use it. i want you to have water scoopers, large retardants, transition year. every single asset. given what you just said i hope you will work with us to figure out how to make this not a transitional season but a season where you have every tool at your disposal. that is what people in the west wants us to be doing. they want us to be giving them every tool possible to fight this fire season. thank you. mrs. christiansen: thank you. >> sen. cantwell. >> thank you for being with us today. the national interagency fire

center outlook for the summer of 2018, largely contained positive news for wyoming. we all know how quickly on the ground conditions can change. across wyoming we have had above average snowpack and spring runoff, labeled as below normal fire potential, higher precipitation can meet rapid grass growth, dry and by august we have trouble. talking to our wyoming state forrester, he has a rule of sixes. he says about every six year, 2018 is the sixth year. wyoming will see fire. questions remain about forest health, improving coordination among partners and how we can best do that. a lot of it comes down to millions of acres of the system across the west affected by beetles. we are no stranger to die off's.

standing dead trees posed significant threats. you both identified the need to reduce hazardous fuels. both agencies have tools to take preventative action including those provided in the recent omnibus. in places like wyoming where lower intensity fire season is expected but it may happen, your agencies, do they have been flexibility you need to take advantage of certain years and adapt fuels, treatments as the year goes on in real-time to increase preventative measures to get ahead of the curve in terms of this standing fuel? mrs. christiansen: senator, thank you for that really good question. i don't mean to burst your bubble. the white on the map that sen. cantwell: up does not mean it is below normal. that means it is normal conditions. we will still see fires. you do not have as much read in wyoming.

-- red in wyoming. we have to use every tool to treat these hazards. mechanical treatment but also using fire when we are in control of it because it will help reduce fuel loads in many ecosystems and sometimes they need both. sometimes we have more favorable conditions and we need to take it manage of those operating windows on fire severity and smoke management. very good comments by senator cantwell in her opening statement, we are working with the public on how we take our smoke on terms none of us care for versus terms that will improve conditions. we had the two our call with leadership across the country about how we deploy resources, not only for fires, wildfire response but for hazardous fuel and other important

treatments. we are on that and states are a critical part of that discussion as well. >> thank you. mr. rupert: for interior, the efficiencies for example in the omnibus largely were focused on forest authorities. we are largely still operating in the framework we have operated in in in terrier in terms of planning projects -- in interior in terms of planning projects and putting them on the ground. we are very much focused on streamlining those existing framework and progress and we are making good headway. ultimately projects, there is an aspect of projects needing to have that planning to help drive them. we still very much doing that. y the same token, conditions

on the ground in addition to values at risk, their exposure, potential exposure to wildfires, weather conditions, having the right conditions to get in there and do proactive vegetation management is very much part of the equation, year-to-year and season to season. >> the black hills national forest formed a number of years ago and advisory board to provide advice to the forest supervisor and various stakeholders. the board's experiencing a number of vacancies and that has to be approved by the secretary so it takes time. without approval pending nominations, march, april and may meetings had to be canceled because there are not enough members. the board is planning to meet again in june but again, with this many vacancies, that meeting will have to be canceled. any update on the situation in nominations? mrs. christiansen: we clearly hear the concern and we are making this a priority, to get

the willing nominations in and have the vetting done and working closely with the secretary's office. he is also committed. being a good neighbor is having everyone at the table to have a voice and how land is managed. it is a priority. > thank you very much. >> senator wyden. >> thank you madam chair and senator cantwell for your leadership, we have fire borrowing language on the book. that will be helpful for the long-term. ms. christiansen, we look forward to getting the plant at the end of june on how you will deal with the backlog on hazardous fuel reduction, that was talked about here in this committee and i very much appreciated the fact that you have been in discussions with us about how you will be attacking that and i look forward to that as well. the country very much wants to

know what the game plan is for reducing hazardous fuel. for the country, sometimes it eels like all of us individual senators are running weather bureaus because our citizens are so concerned. for the country, may is the ominous month for fire season. that really traditionally gives you a sense of where things are. like many of my colleagues, it looks like we will have real challenges in oregon this summer. by the way, our friend senator heinrich is exhibit a for this like many of my colleagues, it looks like we will have real proposition. the reason he is not with us -- he is in new mexico where he is dealing with fire. this is not an abstract theory. let me if i might talk to you about this air tanker issue. in my state, as is the case in many places, they felt they didn't have enough tankers last ummer.

so, i think a lot of people are going to listen to this and say - well, they are playing a game in d.c., this kind of tanker, that kind of tanker, i now that is not your intention. et me ask it this way -- you have got this plan. let's say there are not enough tankers, period. lives are on the line. lives that sometimes can be affected by hours, not even

days. what do you do in that kind of situation? mrs. christiansen: well, senator, you know, we really appreciate the concern of the citizens. i would be delighted if we could have a little window into the intelligence, predictive services and the 24 hour decision-making done at the geographical area and at the national area. when we are in high levels, preparedness levels four and five where we nationally have to prioritize resources, each geographic area, senator cantwell and you, the pacific northwest geographical area, national area. the executives and their key fire leadership are meeting hourly and updating the situation. that feeds into the national interagency fire center, where the national group -- >> can i stop you? i think that is very constructive.

it is also in english. so much of what goes on in fire, is hard to comprehend the people. i believe what you just said is, you use your predictive services, then on an ongoing basis, really hourly, are then able to deploy the assets you have. what if you don't have enough assets? in other words, you make a judgment that you do not have enough assets, which has been the case over the years, where even the best planning -- you do not have enough assets, what do you do then? mrs. christiansen: it is a prioritization. tiered prioritization of the most critical threats to humans and communities first, critical watersheds and the like. we have additional surge capacity we can bring on. >> where does the surge capacity come from?

are these tankers that are somewhere else? that are not part of the two categories you told senator cantwell about but this is a third category that you can bring in if you do not have enough? >> yes. >> where do they come from? mrs. christiansen: the department of defense, global aviation unit, modular. >> how many? mrs. christiansen: seven. seven of those and generally by the time we are in the significant part of the fire year, we say fire year in the west, we can bring partners down from canada, our two additional search capacities and we are putting out additional call when needed later in the summer, we

anticipate having at least five more call when needed, up to 30. the west, we can bring our partners down from canada, our two additional search capacities, and we are putting out an additional call when needed and later in the summer, we anticipate up to 30. >> i am over my time. 30. i want to close by saying i think you're working hard at this. that is the key. i would like it if you can also furnish a committee, a written answer to what i just asked. a little bit about -- center -- this. senator michalski and i used to talk about this. if you could get to -- that to us in writing, i think you are working very hard at this and your relationship with keeping us informed is very instructive. we appreciate it. thank you, madam chair. >> 15 seconds, i want to make ure nafta is the partner you want on the hourly updates, ok? we want to make sure nasa is giving you the satellite information you need on an hourly basis. >> absolutely. we are working with nasa. >> thank you both. >> good to see you again before the committee. the last fire season in want on the hourly updates, montana, it was nearly 1.4 million acres burned. 680,000 acres, we were left

with a great deal of dead and dying timber which causes serious public safety risks. we see significant delays associated with the analysis of the burned areas and they present the savitt -- the other ong-term restoration work from being completed in a timely manner. montana -- we all know the clock is ticking when it is still salvageable. i've heard from many montanans who want the service to use your emergency situation authority to get the work done sooner. i encourage you to approve these requests for the fires in montana. can you provide an update for these approvals?

ms. christiansen: thank you, senator daines. i am quite pleased with my ms. christiansen: thank you, staff. we put together strike teams to work with communities and industry on what would be an ideal place to receive this aterial. using the emergency situation determination is a very important tool both for health nd safety and the imminent hreat of declining rapidly. i expect the sunrise project, i signed last week, regional orest, martin knows what i expect to see. i will have those with the next two weeks. >> that is refreshing and very

good to hear. given the sometimes lengthy approval process, what can congress do to encourage faster and more extensive use of this? ms. christiansen: i think it is just understanding the process and the balance. obviously, we take the tool very seriously but we need to not abuse it. we want to be strategic and really look for the areas where the health and safety and critical decline of the project are safe. we would like early involvement in the scoping so we can move out with lee. we move this in a transparent way.

your help in getting communities to work with as quickly i think will help down the line. and your continued support of the tool that we can uphold it rapidly. as it was intended to be used. >> thank you. can you discuss the economic as well as environmental benefits of carrying on that -- efforts as quickly as possible following large fires? r. rupert: sure. i think restoration, identify that as being slightly different with emergency stabilization one half -- which happens to after the fire. i think in a lot of ways, it is location, location, location. there are many areas around the country where getting in there immediately, this is a local stakeholder driven need that i

think we have here. we are immediately getting work on the ground and immediately getting trees replanted. that actually makes the most sense to get to a healthy state that is economically supported. there are other parts of the country where, quite frankly, we probably don't want to get in there immediately. because the conditions that will really lead to successful restoration may not be in place until later in the year are there are other parts of the after we have rain -- i mean, a holder ride he of different circumstances. so i think it sort of depends based on locations but there are many examples where the faster we can do it, the faster we can get in there, the better. >> can you address what impact

the litigation has on addressing the targets? ms. christiansen: litigation clearly takes focus away from getting our work done. it prevents the critical restoration to create the fire resiliency we are all trying to achieve. it gives pause to our staffs. if we could work with folks early in a collaborative process and if everyone could come to the table, we are always willing to hear everyone and work it out. litigation on the back end really slows down the important critical work. >> and it is awfully expensive. wrapping up, you know the most recent forecasts from the agency fire center reduction above fire potential. i saw your chart and took a picture of it. here we are with snowpacks

above average and flooding across the state. as you mentioned, a lot of variables go into the outlook here it looks like we need to buckle up. much more needs to be done to ddress the significant threats of the wildfire. my look forward to building additional support for some of these litigation protections and reductions in red tape so these can get done sooner. >> thank you. >> thank you both for being ere. let me associate myself with the comments the chair made with respect to sexual harassment. i could not agree with you more

that it is a cultural change and we have to be vigilant constantly and have policies and procedures in place. i look forward to making sure we are costly addressing the issue. let me talk about lake tahoe, which is important for nevada nd california. this is an issue we have talked about in the past. 74% of the areas public land and after decades of fire suppression, the forests are highly vulnerable to insect disease and catastrophic wildfires and lack the diversity and age structure to support a healthy forest system and forest management projects are essential to the communities, and the threat of the catastrophic wildfire is a top concern for the fire community.

we can see from the maps -- what precautions are being undertaken for this area in particular? ms. christiansen: thank you, senator. a quick comment on work environment, it is not one-day training. this is a starting point for a long journey with regards to lake tahoe, it is an emblem of a community at high risk with high populations. it is a good example of a community working across boundaries together. i hate to say this but it is orking way up front of any fire, sometimes several years of working across boundaries, both getting the resiliency of the land in better shape, as you suggested, and, the community is prepared, being fire adaptive.

the tools added to farm bill tools from 2012 to what was just recently passed in the omnibus, a great step forward for us to be able to move more wiftly and get more done and to stabilize when the fix goes into effect and operating environments so we can do this on the ground. additionally the cop -- additionally, the forms we are doing internally are helping us to get more work done. i am proud of the increased 36% of work across the lands. that means, with our local partners. principles of the cohesive

strategy where we need to have fire adaptive communities and have an effective response to fire, i know i have an invitation and want to get me out to lake tahoe, and i had been there a couple of years ago and have great leadership. >> we appreciate you being participants in that area. it was a local community to really address the issue and we appreciate you being there. let me jump back to the topic of a conversation the senator talked about. when there are fires going on in a particular state, it is not just impacting the state. if there are fires in california, we see smoke and hayes in southern nevada. it has an impact on that.

i'm curious what is it you looked to address the health benefit, when it comes to that hayes and issues affiliated with any type of wildfire? i know you have an office of environmental health that studies events in particular but i -- my understanding is that is being funded -- office hayes and issues affiliated of environmental health? s that not true? ms. christiansen: i'm not familiar with that, no. i can speak to a partnership that at the greater community, we entered in with the center for disease control, and they

are helping a study the fuel type from wildfire, and the time of year, not all -- to not only show that the quantity of smoke is different, as expressed in this report, but the type of matter looking that closely between wildfire smoke, we are really pleased that we have such a solid partnership ith the center for disease control because that will accelerate us having a public conversation. >> mr. ruppert, do you have any comments? mr. rupert: i am not familiar, and i happy to look more specifically into it and give you a response about that office. i would just say that as we look where we are now and where

e want to go the future to deal with the issue, there is a lot of interaction between the community and air managers, epa deal with the issue, there is a and others, and essentially, i think the shared vision is that we are much better off under a prescribed fire scenario where we control the circumstances and volumes and character of the smoke in the air, as opposed to catastrophic and uncontrolled wildfire where we have no control whatsoever and we are stuck with it. >> i agree. thank you. thank you both. >> thank you, senator. let me ask about the vegetation management provisions we

included in the omnibus. an you give me a status report on the implementation of the provisions we had included? when thinking about the physical integrity of distribution infrastructure, this is key to protect the eliability of the energy grid. give me a quick update. >> certainly, senator. we have moved swiftly and have given a full analysis of these provisions and we have given really specific direction to grid. the region. as you know, they will give us the plans for -- in this week. vegetation management is more opportunistic. so i have asked everyone of the regional forrester's two describe how they are prepared to meet response times that

those utilities will require so that we can be timely in allowing vegetation management projects to move forward. t is direction to the region to be ready and shows how they are prior -- prioritizing. >> mr. ruppert, are the folks at blm in the far as -- forest services court in the implementation effort? mr. rupert: there has been very active ongoing engagement oordination looking and coming up with consistent approaches to this. blm as well coming into the process. is close to the policy. essentially reinforcing the timelines and expectations for mplementation.

>> ok, good. good. there has been discussion already with regard to the unmanned aerial systems. how does doi and the office coordinate with forest service in terms of the drone program? do you both operate separately, and is there some level of coordination that goes on with these? mr. rupert: maybe i will start. the interior drone operations are not strictly wildfire. in fact, the majority of the drone missions are actually resource missions. o, surveys and

inspections. in the case of wildfire, we have a fleet, i think we are approaching 500 owned -- dli owned drones. inspections. in the case of wildfire, we we have several hundred certified operators. many of those are qualified to operate on the incident. the coronation occurs -- the coordination that occurs -- allow us to going to these incidents that we know it have certified and qualified operators capable of piloting the drones in that environment to support the incident esponse. so in a lot of ways, it is very similar to how we coordinate, you know, all other assets in the world. i think that has been one successful part of the drone implementation, that we really have taken a communitywide

implementation standard approach. >> to we have any sense as to the savings that we might be able to attain by using rones? obviously, from a safety perspective, it is clear there, but, in terms of using the traditional air draft versus drones for some of the more traditional wildfire tasks, to have a sense of what that cost savings might be? ms. christiansen: we do not have specific dollar figures but like any buildup and investment, what we imagine we can get to, as mr. ruppert says and both the resource of things, the detections that we do across the nation, when we can get that to having drones instead of the aerial surveys,

then it is in the magnitude of ens that the potential savings is. we are in that stage to how far we will be able to go replacing people, but we imagine it can be great and we will incrementally work ourselves there. >> let me ask a little about that. i was up in south-central last -- alaska and was struck by the amount of what we are seeing up towards -- it is an area i had not really noticed. obviously, the peninsula had been decimated some years back. and, unfortunately, we are seeing some evidence, and this

is done through surveillance, but we are seeing evidence that the beetle maybe back. it is my understanding that the beetle has already decimated over 6 million acres. 1.3 million acres, more than 3 million spruce trees on that peninsula alone. so again, we pay very close attention to this because of potential for increased fire hreat particularly down on the peninsula right now. it is not just that peninsula. it is not just that looking at my clips this morning, just in this morning's newspaper were around the state, we had a fire in the national forest, went up this morning, a small one, and then

the first big fire off of the road just up from the area where i grew up. it is fire season for us. i know we are projected to have a normal year but for us, normal is often times one million acres. this is something we watched with great interest. what are the agencies doing to work together again, not just within doi and worst service, but working with a state as we are doing what some of the beetle kill issues, and the situation, whether it is now moving more into south-central? >> senator, the recent etection surveyed into a 17,

that was 27 million acres flown in alaska and over 840,000 acres recorded forest damage. you are correct in south-central, there were only -- over 400,000 in the recent survey, largely in the valley in that area as you describe. it is across all lands. so we are working collectively and we have put together a beetle working group and researched that group in alaska with a division of four street and alaskan -- >> as i understand, the test horse was focused on the peninsula. are you expanding this to a broader area? >> yes. that is my understanding. there is a spruce beetle

website and we have also awarded special technology development grant to develop methods for having a broader look both spatially and emporally detecting both the past and present across alaska. this will help us monitor the disease activity on a larger scale and what is behind this. we are working in southeast alaska, the largest area, there are smaller pockets of his peter -- beetle activity and largest area is the national ark. our protection program is collaborating with park staff about monitoring this summer appeared we are clearly working across boundaries in the park as well.

>> as we all know, and it is not just in alaska. again, making sure that the forest management tools that we provided you in the omnibus, to really do more, when comes to whether they prescribed burning, just every effort that we can do to reduce that fire risk, but also, really working to address the management reforms that we all believe are critically important, as you -- e know you do as well. we have one more vote, and thus the absence of other colleagues here this morning. if folks do have questions, for the record, we will make sure hey come to your attention and

we ask that you was on to their concerns as well. i do want to ask one more question and this relates to the rule there. you know my position on it. i've always said i did not think it made any sense of place where it is an area just made up of violence, 32 island communities, and so, as we are looking to access, the big focus -- you have a petition from the tate of alaska that asks for that exemption from the road list and a tongass. so, last time you were here, we had a conversation about this and the service plans. so can you give me an update on the status of the petition and when that service might act on that petition? >> thank you, senator appeared i absolutely can.

secretary perdue and governor alker spoke on this past riday, june 1. hey agreed to pursue state specific rule to address the concerns as swiftly as possible in the national forest and the access for timber energy development and many other forms of access. we are working closely with the state to align resources and get started immediately.

we have identified funding and he resources in people and staffing and expertise, to get started. we are in close contact with the state and we will be glad to keep you up to date. >> i appreciate that. and perhaps what we need and what we want to do is to schedule a meeting with yourself and secretary, if he is available to further discuss. i am cognizant that with a state petition, my good friend, the senator from idaho, is one that led that in his state and he has made it clear to me that this is not an easy process or a quick process or a cheap process. so, making sure that there is a good understanding as to what the process for basically moving forward with the petition is, how that is clearly outlined, it is

certainly my hope that whatever that process looks like, it does not result in anything less than the full exemption. so i would like to be able to speak with both you and the secretary about that etition. but again, understanding how we can move forward in a way that oes acknowledge the reality of the situation that we face, i would look forward to more iscussion on that. with that, i think, as i'm

looking through, maybe the question was asked when i was out on the boat, but have you, have you provided status on the with that, i think, as i'm firefighting use and effectiveness study? that was back in 2012 and it is my understanding that the agency launched this use and effectiveness study, five years ago. it is my understanding that we really have not seen any information that has been released from the work, which, you know, that does not make any sense and is not acceptable. if five years later, we still haven't seen that released, again, i do not know if you have addressed this already and if you have, i apologize, but can you just tell me where we are with that?

>> certainly, and i have not addressed it yet. as you know, that is a study to look over a variety of different fire situations, use and effectiveness. are we using inappropriately and how effective is it. this is a major investment. retardant is a critical tool but we want to know if we are using it correctly. like any studies, i get frustrated as well, that it takes the amount of time and variety of fires and different types of fires to have a reasonable study and it was always intended to be five years of field data. so they are collecting that now into a report and we will see a draft report in the coming months with a final report in 2019. >> i understand what you're

saying about how we want it to become pensive. but i think we also recognize that we as a congress have worked to provide you with some resources and tools that you have been asking for for a long time. but you acknowledge in your own statement, that this is not a blank check to us. so making sure that we are doing right by these reforms and doing right by these additional dollars that are coming your way and additional resources, we want to be guided by things that are going to make some sense. one of the things that i hear is that when it comes to aircraft to achieve certain objectives, a -- certain suppression objectives, a somewhat random thing, like what do we have here and you pull this in. that is not cost-efficient pair

-- that is not cost-efficient, that is not using our money smartly. so i would hope that, you're trying to get this into alignment, that we are not going to just blow through resources we have this year because we have it and next year, we promise to do it smarter because we will have results of the study. if you have information that could help point you in a better direction, now, i would hope that you are setting yourself up to do just that. ms. christiansen: yes, senator, we are. we have implemented last year, the longer study is ongoing and we look forward to those results. in getting preliminarily briefed here soon, but we also have the technology now with our scientists, within a 12 hour

turnaround to have real-time maps to our management teams where they can see the effectiveness of the prior burning the window of response and was that effective? did we just burn through the retardant drops we thought would be effective? we're doing real-time learning as well as the longer term study. with both of those, we are making adjustments and will have more information and we will be glad to work with you on that. >> i would appreciate that. i think you heard similar concerns from both senators on this. here again, we see that yes, these are extraordinarily important assets and we want you to have that, those aviation assets. but we also want to know that we

are being smart with all of this and the request for the study back in 2012 and the frustration, and if my math is correct, if we really put this in place in 2012, we are beyond our five years now. >> yes. i believe it was in 2013, the first field season. >> all right. hurry it up. ms. christiansen: we will. >> i have no questions at this time but if colleagues have submissions, you will see them. i know it is not a policy but maybe we just pray for rain this summer and we also pray for the safety of the men and women out on the front lines. i think we all know that it is very dangerous and we have lost far too many as they have been out there on the front lines.

hopefully, it will be a safe season. with that, the committee stands adjourned.

"> c-span's "washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up this morning, minnesota republican congressman and a pretty chair for the national republican campaign committee talks about campaign 2018. reviews thel tonko

opioid crisis. we sure to watch c-span's live atton journal" 7:00 a.m. eastern this morning. join the discussion. live on thehat is c-span networks on friday. opioidse will work on importation and illegal trafficking legislation. easterne is in at 9:00 on c-span. on c-span two, the house panel will get an update on u.s. preparedness for pandemics. and then a look at president trump's proposed postal service task force which will look at least modernize the u.s. postal service. that is at noon eastern. c-span3, the- on russia military strategy hosted by the rand corporation. that is at 9:00 eastern. this weekend, c-span cities tour new orleans,to

louisiana on its try centennial tour. we will explore the literary scene and history of the city. saturday at noon eastern on book tv care about the lift -- the life and influence of tennyson williams, is known for his plays naturally,"glassman and -- and then explore the exhibit, new orleans, the founding era. orleans is celebrating its try centennial this year. the collection has decided that for our tries and tenniel exhibition, we wanted to look back at the earliest years of the city and what it was like when the city first was developed. >> and then a visit to one of the city's oldest restaurants. larger here takes a much

piece than it does anywhere else. we live to eat in new orleans. ofwatch c-span's city tour's new orleans, louisiana. working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. now, democrats react to the justice department's report on the fbi's investigation of the 2016 presidential campaign. this briefing is 30 minutes. mr. schumer: ok, good afternoon, everyone. i'm proud to be joined by my colleague, senator feinstein and warner, and my dear friend and mr. schumer: ok, good afternoon, everyone. i'm proud to be joined by my colleague, senator feinstein and warner, and my dear friend and house colleague, who i know longer than anybody probably in this room, jerry nadler. leader pelosi, ranking member